"This is fun. It is. It's a best-of-three. I've already said it once. I think you enjoy it. We get ready for a bigger battle than we had last game," Iginla said. "We have a lot of great competitors in there that feel good today and are excited to play tomorrow. We're looking forward to it."

"I think this could be great for us," Iginla said later—and then he said it again.

BREAK OUT!

One of Pittsburgh's biggest problems has been getting the puck out of their own zone and keeping possession through the neutral zone. Defenseman Paul Martin is one of the players responsible for that, and he said they're attempting some in-series adjustments.

"We like to come out of the zone a certain way," Martin said. "It's something we have been working on—trying to change certain things."

One of the times it worked: A third-period goal that put them up 4-3. Marc-Andre Fleury made a save and shuffled it to Brooks Orpik below the circles. Orpik sent it up to Kunitz further along the far boards. Chris Kunitz sent it to Sidney Crosby back in the circle, who dropped it back to Kunitz, who hit Pascal Dupuis with a pass along the Isles blue line. A couple more touches of the puck, and Kunitz had a goal.

"It'd be nice if it was always that pretty, but I think sometimes we just have to make the hard play and just get it out," Crosby said. "Absolutely, it's easier said than done when there's a guy with his stick on you or a little bit of pressure, but we've got to make sure that we're making those hard plays, and making sure that whether it's a chip or a good hard pass out of the zone."

IGGY LEFT, IGGY RIGHT

Crosby was asked about potentially switching linemates, and he didn't bite: "That's a question for Dan."

Still, there's a train of thought that Iginla should switch from playing on Evgeni Malkin's left to Crosby's right. Iginla spent virtually his entire career (and scored a few goals in the process) at right wing for the Calgary Flames. On Wednesday, he said he feels fine on the other side.

"Left feels good now. When I first got here, whatever position you put me in wasn't feeling comfortable," Iginla said. "Breaking out as a winger, with this style, it's just as easy to be in the left as it is the right."

MALKIN'S MISTAKE

A turnover by Malkin led to the ultimate game-winning goal by John Tavares. Asked to evaluate Malkin's play, Bylsma spoke in more general terms.

"Clearly that's an execution mistake, a puck management mistake by us. In a lot of ways, in the third period we weren't as aggressive as we needed to be," Bylsma said. "We backed off a bit and gave them too many opportunities. That's an example on the game-winning goal by Tavares."